Venezia & Associates

Home
United States
New Orleans, LA
Venezia & Associates

Call Directions Website Contact the practice

Focused on litigation We primarily handle cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that our legal fees are contingent on recovering money for our clients.

Many lawyers do this on personal injury and death claims. which we do as well. But, unlike most other lawyers, we offer contingent fees on many other types of cases. John Venezia has handled hundreds of property insurance, construction defect, civil rights, commercial collection, disability insurance, product liability, and other complex claims during his 20 years of experience. We are setup to share the risk with our clients. When someone comes to our office having been injured in a rear-ended car wreck, it is fairly easy to determine that they have a case that we are willing to handle. This is not always the true with the more complicated matters. We usually have to evaluate those more and, frankly, they need to involve a larger amount of money. However, regardless of how complicate a case may be, if the amount involved and the facts are right, we are wiling to take the risk with our clients. So, if someone hs wrongfully injured you or killed a family member or if someone owes you alot of money, we have the experience and knowledge that can help. Mr. Venezia has tried over 100 cases involving many different areas of law. He is admitted to practice in all Louisian state courts, the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He has been admitted pro hac vice on several occasions in Mississippi and Texas courts. He is a member of the Louisiana Association for Justice and has served as a lecturer for continuing education classes for attorneys and private investigators for many years. Phone: (504) 486-3910

Location: 757 St. Charles Ave., Suite 303, New Orleans, LA 70130

John A. Venezia is responsible for the content of this page.

11/02/2026

Owners on private projects in Louisiana now have a payment deadline, and missing it can get expensive.

Since August 1, 2026, Louisiana’s prompt payment law reaches owners at the top of the payment chain. Before Act 822, the statute mostly covered money flowing down from contractors to subs and suppliers. Owners had no comparable deadline.

Here’s what changed:

Owners generally must pay the general contractor within 35 days of receiving a written payment request for properly performed work, unless there’s a good-faith dispute.

If the owner has a construction loan and requested the draw on time, the deadline can stretch to five days after the loan money arrives.

A late payment without a good-faith dispute can carry a penalty of 1.5% per month on the unpaid amount. The old 15% cap is gone, and the side that wins can recover attorney fees.

Residential projects are no longer exempt, and these protections generally can’t be signed away in a contract.

For contractors, that’s real leverage when a pay app sits unpaid. For owners, it means your payment process, and how you document a genuine dispute, matters more than it used to.

If you have questions about how the new rules apply to your project, call Venezia & Associates at 504-486-3910.

Venezialaw.net

10/30/2026

A demand letter just landed on your desk. Do you respond, ignore it, or call someone first?

How you handle it can shape the entire dispute. Your response, or lack of one, often tells the other side a lot about where things are headed.

In this video, John Venezia covers:

What a demand letter really signals
What a strong one includes
Why your reply deserves as much thought as their letter

Received one? Send us a DM, or schedule your consultation at 504-486-3910.

10/26/2026

Nobody mentions the lien waiver until it's sitting next to the check.

Swipe through what these documents are, what to check before you sign one, and where contractors and suppliers get caught.

Give our office a call at 504-486-3910 with your question about a waiver or a payment issue.

10/23/2026

Ignoring a lawsuit doesn’t make it go away. It usually hands the other side a win.

Deadlines to respond are short. Miss one, and the court can enter a default judgment, meaning a decision made without your input. From there, the other side may be able to move toward collecting what the judgment says you owe.

Julie O’Shesky breaks down how default judgments work and why getting an attorney involved early gives you far more options than waiting.

Served with a lawsuit? Learn more about how we handle business disputes at www.venezialaw.net, or call 504-486-3910.

10/21/2026

Ask anyone to recall week one of their recovery a year later, and many can't.

Pain levels blur. Bad days run together. Details that felt impossible to forget at the time fade quickly. In an injury case, that memory gap matters, because how the injury changed your daily life is part of what has to be shown.

A recovery journal is a simple daily record of your pain, your limits, and how the injury affects your life. It takes just a few minutes, and it fills in what memory leaves out.

What to write down:

-Your pain level and what hurt
-What you couldn't do that day
-Every appointment, medication, and change in symptoms
-Missed work, canceled plans, and help you needed

Specific beats general. "Couldn't lift my daughter" says more than "sore back."

What to avoid:

Don't exaggerate, and don't downplay. Stay factual and honest, since your notes could be read by others later.

Where to keep it:

Keep the journal with your medical records, photos, and receipts. Together they show what the injury changed, not just what it cost.

Every case is different, but starting this habit early gives you a record you can rely on later.

Building an injury claim? Give us a call at 504-486-3910 with your question.

10/19/2026

Served with lawsuit papers? Start with these four moves.

Being "served" means you were formally handed the case documents, and a response deadline usually comes with them.

Talk to an attorney before you reply to anyone.

Learn more about our business litigation work at www.venezialaw.net.

10/14/2026

A denial letter isn't always the last word on a claim.

Swipe through four myths about claims with your own insurance company, from storm damage to lowball estimates.

Schedule your consultation at 504-486-3910 to review your claim.

10/12/2026

Deleting a text will not make a business problem go away. More often, it creates a second one.

Once a dispute is on the horizon, the messages, emails, photos, and files connected to it can become evidence. The legal term for destroying or losing that evidence is spoliation, and courts can take it seriously, even when the loss wasn't on purpose.

That's the part that catches people off guard. Evidence disappears in ordinary ways:

-A phone set to auto-delete old messages
-An inbox cleanup to free up storage
-A trade-in without a backup
-A closed account tied to a project

If a dispute is brewing, a few habits go a long way.

Turn off auto-delete.
Back up your phone and email.
Keep the messages you wish you hadn't sent, too, because the full conversation tells the real story better than a cleaned-up version.

Records cut both ways. The message that worries you today may be the one that protects you later.

Not sure what to hold onto? See how we approach business disputes at www.venezialaw.net.

10/09/2026

The wording of a payment clause can make the difference between getting paid late and not getting paid at all. Pay-when-paid language usually sets the timing of a sub’s payment, while pay-if-paid language can make payment from the owner a requirement before the sub is owed anything. The two phrases look similar on paper, but the legal effect can be very different.

Subcontractors should know which clause they agreed to before a dispute ever starts, because that language can control how much risk they are carrying on a project. Reviewing these terms before signing, or as soon as a payment problem appears, can help protect your position. If a payment clause in your contract is being used against you, contact Venezia & Associates to review your rights.

10/07/2026

Were you hurt on a vessel? Report it, and make sure the report is in writing.

Injuries at sea, on a river, or on a barge don't follow the same rules as an injury at a warehouse or an office. Maritime workers may fall under a federal law called the Jones Act, which covers "seamen" (generally, workers who spend a significant part of their time aboard a vessel).

Because different rules apply, how an injury is documented in the first days can matter.

A few habits that help:

Tell your captain or supervisor right away, then follow up in writing. A verbal "I'll let them know" can turn into "I never heard about it" later.

Ask for a copy of any incident report. Read it before you sign, and make sure it matches what actually happened.

Write down the date, time, location, and who saw it happen.

Get medical care, and keep the records.

Louisiana has a large maritime workforce, and these claims are handled differently from standard workplace injuries. If you or someone you know works on the water, this one is worth passing along.

Save this for later, and call 504-486-3910 if you need help now.

Address

650 Poydras Street
New Orleans, LA
70130

Telephone

+15044863910

Website

http://venezialaw.net/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Venezia & Associates posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.